Azerbaijan, Baku, September 12 / Trend U. Sadikhova /
Turkey's intention to strengthen its diplomatic influence to solve conflicts in the Middle East and be a mediator in solving disputes between Iran and the West over the nuclear program can be major reason for Turkish Foreign Minister's visit to Iran, experts said.
"Davutoglu's visit (to Iran) is aimed to reconcile Syria and Iraq, and even more on Iranian nuclear program and relations between Iran and the West," Lebanese specialist on Turkish politics, Mohammed Noureddine, told Trend over phone.
Tehran trusts Turkey, because Ankara was one of the supporters for peaceful nuclear programs of Iran and against any military settlement of disputes between the USA. and Iran, head of the Beirut Center for Strategic Studies, Nureddin, said.
Ankara also supports close cooperation with the USA within NATO. So, there are all conditions for Turkey to be able to mediate in solving disputes between Iran and the West, Nureddin said.
On Saturday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will pay official visit to Iran upon the invitation of his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki, Turkish agency Anadolu said.
Davutoglu's visit to Iran followed after his consultations and participation in the meeting of foreign ministers of Arab League in Cairo, dedicated to solving of disputes between Syria and Iraq.
Baghdad and Damascus recalled diplomatic representatives after the Iraqi government called on Syria to extradite two organizers of powerful attacks in Baghdad on August 19. These attacks killed about 100 people.
From the very outset Ankara mediates to reconcile Syria and Iraq. This position is supported by the Arab countries.
Turkish analyst Arif Keskin said that Davutoglu's upcoming visit is connected with aggravation of contradictions in relations between Iran and the West over nuclear program, as well as the situation after the elections.
The USA, EU and Israel fear that Iran will create nuclear weapon though Iran states about peaceful purposes of uranium enrichment..
Israel has repeatedly stated about possible attacks on Iranian military facilities, but the USA says nothing on this regards.
In his last interview to the Qatar TV channel Al-Jazeera, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that Washington has no evidence that Iran has nuclear weapons.
But the secret negotiations of the Western countries to impose new sanctions against Iranian nuclear program disturb Turkey. Turkey is against Iranian war with the USA and Israel and regards it as a blow to its national interests, member of the Eurasian Strategic Research Center, Keskin, told Trend over phone.
He does not rule out that during the visit Davutoglu can call on Iran to take a softer position on nuclear program.
Iranian political scientist on Middle East politics, Hassan Hashimyan, other reason of Turkish Minister's visit, can be an attempt of Ankara to be a mediator in rapprochement between Iran and Arab countries.
Based on Secretary-General of the League of Arab States Amr Moussa's appeal on the need for dialogue between Iran and Arab countries, Davutoglu can convey this message to Iran, Hashimyan told Trend over phone.
Noureddine thinks that at present, Turkey has the largest diplomatic influence in the Middle East. Turkey wants to establish good relations with all countries to achieve its goals.
"Turkey, having perfect relations with Iraq and Syria, as well as Iran can achieve success in its mediation (in the Middle Eastern conflicts). Stability in the region is profitable for Turkey, because explosions in Iraq undermine interests of Ankara's security," Nureddin said.
Foreign ministers of the League of Arab States will meet in Istanbul next week to further solve the Syrian-Iraqi dispute.
However, the visit to Tehran amid successful diplomatic mediation in the Middle East does not deal with coincidence in Turkish and Iranian positions in the Middle East's policy.
Turkey and Iran cooperate in the only sphere, namely, a struggle against terror in the region, Keskin said.
He said that the reason is change of the course of Turkish policy in the Middle East after the war in Iraq in 2003.
"After U.S invasion there was a threat of Iraqi split and strengthening of terrorists of the Kurdistan Workers' Party in the north of Iraq.
Turkey reapproched with Arab neighbors and Iran", Keskin said.
Political scientist said that major point for Turkey is to overcome split in the Middle East, especially in Iraq.
But there are no political projects between Turkey and Iran, because the countries have different views on politics in the region, Keskin said.
"It does not mean that Turkey is a rival of Iran. Views of Ankara and Tehran do not coincide in the Syrians and the Palestinians' peace process with Israel and the situation in Lebanon,," Keskin said.
T. Jafarov contributed in the article.